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GPL upgrade contract… Track record must be considered before evaluators pick contractors – Harmon
Minister of State Joseph Harmon is of the view that a contractor’s track record must be an important consideration when evaluations are done.
There are contractors performing substandard works on previous contracts, and then returning to bid for other contracts,
He made this statement during the post cabinet press conference held at the Ministry of the Presidency yesterday.
He was asked about disbarment of poor performing contractors.
There was the example of China National Machinery Import and Export, which returned to bid for a $3.8B (US$18.6M) Guyana Power and Light (GPL) contract after already being flagged for substandard work done for the same entity on a previous project.
Harmon said that anyone can submit a bid, but it is up to the evaluators to ensure that contractors with bad track records do not get the contract. He noted that when the documents come to Cabinet, it is for Cabinet to then either object or give its no objection to the contract.
“Our Public Procurement Act circumscribes the manner in which Government proceeds with the award of these contracts. We do not deliberately exclude anybody. So anyone can come and they can bid.
“But at the level of the evaluation they will make an initial determination about whether the person has satisfied the requirements of the contract.”
“Performance at previous contracts must be a factor to be taken into consideration. At the level of evaluation, it then goes to NPTAB where another level of evaluation takes place. And they will scrutinize the contract.”
Back in May, it had been reported that bids were being assessed for a contract to install a medium and low voltage distribution network, as well as smart meters in order to upgrade GPL’s services.
The system GPL currently uses has been deemed unreliable. In addition, an upgrade was necessary before any plans for hydropower could come on stream.
China National Machinery Import and Export was one of five companies which submitted bids, but the company was already harshly evaluated by consultants for an $8.4B (US$42M) it undertook to build transmission lines and seven substations.
Power outages
Meanwhile, with the proliferation of power outages being experienced around the country and in particular, the outages which occurred on Monday, Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson briefed cabinet on Tuesday on the workings of GPL and the substandard service.
Reporting on the briefing yesterday, Minister Harmon revealed that Patterson reported that there was lightning strikes on Monday and some parts of the grid were struck.
Harmon assured that GPL personnel were working to ensure that there is a reduction in outages. However, he said that with the grid network and how the power lines are currently set up, it was never a guarantee that power would be uninterrupted.
“As you know, the way in which our power lines run and the way in which some of the poles are, you can never give a full guarantee of 100 percent electricity at any given time. But that is what GPL strives for. So you always have the question of weather conditions that affect the supply of electricity.”
“Particularly in bad weather when the wind is high and the rain is heavy, sometimes poles fall down and sometimes the transformers collapse. So these are things which we live with.”
“As you know, we are looking to reduce our reliance on fossil fuel and therefore the way in which power is distributed from the main power generating centers to individual homes, we will be looking at that.
“We will be looking at a more reliable way of ensuring that that power is conducted from the central facility to the homes.”
“So we are concerned about that as well. Because when blackout occurs it does discriminate and we all face the same thing.”
In a statement, yesterday, GPL reported on another power outage.
According to the entity, the Demerara, Vreed-en-Hoop feeder tripped three times, resulting in interruptions in the supply of electricity to customers from La Grange to Edinburgh, Zeeburg to Naamryck and Leonora.
“Our engineers are currently conducting a thorough investigation to determine the root cause, to which we will work assiduously to correct in order to maintain a reliable service,” the entity said.
“In spite of the challenges, the feeder was isolated and restoration efforts commenced (Tuesday evening) at approximately 18:50 hours with the last area being repowered at 19:23hours.
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